Abilio Gears Up for Fort Marcy

Abilio’s graded stakes debut in Saturday’s Grade 3, 1 1/16-mile Fort Marcy promises to be a thoroughly New York affair. Bred in New York by owner Michael Marceda, the 6-year-old gelding is trained by Tom Albertrani, a classmate of Marceda’s at Valley Stream Central High School. 

A son of Pioneering, Abilio joined Albertrani’s barn last fall after beginning his career with Linda Rice. The gelding has made four starts for Albertrani, with his best finish a second in the If Winter Comes overnight stakes on November 17 at Aqueduct. His two most recent starts – a fourth in the Dave overnight stakes at the Big A on April 14 and a sixth in third level optional claimer at Gulfstream in February – have come over good or yielding turf.

“I think the turf was good to yielding [at Gulfstream], but it was probably a little softer than they listed it as and I don’t think his best races have been on soft or yielding ground,” said Albertrani. “I think he really runs better over a firm turf course. He looks like he could be competitive in this race. He’d have to run his ‘A’ game to win it, but we don’t have a whole lot of alternatives, so we’re going to give him a chance in here and see how he runs over maybe a firmer course. He looks like he kind of fits in here, but he definitely has to step up a little bit.”